Miley Cyrus 'Proud' to be influencing young girls

LORD, how did we get ourselves into this kind of rat race celebration. What would Jesus do? Certainly, not own a charge card. It has dawned on me that Christmas is coming and I cannot ignore it!"

This was the late governor of Texas, Ann Richards, awash in the need to have gifts for two sons, two daughters, grandchildren, employees, friends and enemies.

I Just had an email from a reader who said what good sports New Yorkers are, how friendly and in great spirits. I don't exactly know where this person has been visiting but I sure do want to go there!

Maybe you won't consider this news the disaster I do, but the Library of Congress just revealed that 70 percent of silent films made between 1912 and 1929 have been lost forever. And of the 30 percent that remain, many are incomplete or of lower quality formats.

The silent film era offered remarkable artwork; sensual, terrifying, funny. They swept audiences into a land devoid of sound, but rich with imagery.

When sound debuted in 1929, it had a shaky start, but soon revolutionized the film industry. Stars such as Greta Garbo and Charlie Chaplin resisted "talkies" as long as they could, but eventually sound was in to stay, and as MGM trumpeted for "Anna Christie" in 1930 — "Garbo Talks!"

More than ever we owe a debt to Turner Classic Movies and the people at Criterion DVD, who devote such care to restoring, preserving and offering older movies, including silent movies, in all their mystery and beauty.

Miley Cyrus is in Entertainment Weekly's "Entertainers of the Year" issue. Now, Miley might be the nicest 21-year-old in the world — she is certainly savvy when it comes to her career. But what exactly does she think she is encouraging "other girls" to do? Being "yourself" is one thing. Being an entertainer and making a spectacle of yourself is something else entirely. I suppose there's nothing wrong with making yourself a spectacle, but "other girls" can't do that in real life; particularly not in this cyber-age of instant everything, relentless bullying and the expectations of real-life young men who see a spectacle and want to take advantage of it.

Declaring yourself a role model — especially to vulnerable teenage girls — is one of those things that can bite-you-in-the-rear, big time.